How to Eat an Elephant, OR How to Get Things Done

~by Haley Lynn Gray~

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As you might have guessed, I am not really talking about having elephant as a meal. Maybe you’ve heard that joke about how to eat an elephant? The answer: You eat an elephant one bite at a time. It’s good advice, not just for eating an elephant, but also for getting things done, especially when you’re feeling overwhelmed by your list of “to-dos”.

When you’re a woman in business, especially if you have a family, there are tendencies to want to do a million things at once. You get distracted out the wazoo. The reality is that if you want to stay half-way sane, you’ve got to stay focused on the most important things: keeping a roof over your head, food on the table, kids clothed, and moving forward in your business by getting clients and keeping them.

When you’re doing a particular task, it’s easiest if you stay focused on the task at hand and ignore all other distractions.That means doing one task at a time, one small thing, rather than trying to eat an entire elephant at one time. You have to focus on just consuming the next bite of that mammoth.

Multitasking is an illusion; trying to multitask will destroy your productivity. Instead, break up the things that you need to do into little, itty-bitty tasks. Break tasks up into the smallest common denominator that you can find, and then do those tasks.And stay focused on the task you are working on. Don’t be tempted to keep looking at the “elephant” and contemplating how you are going to finish that “meal”.

Do the most important things first and ignore the things that you don’t have to do. And yes, there is a very good chance that a few things on your “to-do” list really are not that important.

Learn to say “no” to the things that don’t work for you and make you happy.

Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray

Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.

Haleyis a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl.She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.

Whether you want to get a new business off the ground or expand an existing business, Haley can assist you.